Peebles Rovers 0-9 LTHV

PEEBLES Rovers suffered the heaviest defeat of the season yesterday after LTHV battered the team 0-9 at Whitestone.

It was always going to be a tough one, but Lothian ran riot on a day where little came off.

A goal-blitz inside the first 15 minutes destroyed our confidence, as we battled against a yellow and black tsunami.

Louis Swanson opened the scoring after four minutes, stabbing the ball home from close-range after a Murray ball.

Willis Hare proceeded to add another two in the space of a few minutes as the capital club switched into top-gear.

Rovers, finally snapping out of their trance, started to retaliate through Gregor and Ross Lamb who battled ferociously to move the ball up the park.

Things soon went from bad to worse as we lost James Dodds to injury after 14 minutes, the defender taking a heavy blow to the face that forced him off – Robert Sterricks replacing him.

A good cross-field ball picked out David Lindsay who charged down the left, but under-pressure from LTHV defender, he had little chance of breaking through.

Rovers kept pushing away, but this was a day where nothing was happening. Jack Smith cut in from the left to see his shot go over the bar, whilst Ross Lamb saw a powerful effort from outside the box saved by Kevin Swain.

HT: 0-3

You never felt that LTHV were going to rest on their laurels, never going to be happy with just a 0-3 lead.

Ben McGinley produced a stunning save to deny Keith Murray in a one v one on 47 minutes.

However, soon after, Lothian won a penalty – with Louis Swanson on hand to tuck it under McGinley.

Minutes later, Keith Murray was at it again as he broke clear of the Rovers defence with Lee Zavaroni chasing after him.

The skipper almost cleared it, but cruelly saw the ball take a deflection and go beyond McGinley to make it 0-5.

Murray was also on hand to grab number six, as he headed home in a packed area following a Tony Muir free-kick.

Murray was to score again, followed by two from sub Samuel Nhamburo, to secure the points for Raymond Carr’s men.